It's a great feeling to be recognized by your peers. It's an even better feeling to be welcomed and accepted by country radio and its listeners. If desire is any part of this equation, then I'm a contender!

As a young girl, there were the obvious messages about what girls could and couldn't achieve. And to compound the limitations I felt being leveled upon me, I realized at the age of nine, that I was gay.

All I ever wanted to do was write songs and get on a bus and go play them for people.

I'm very much a traditionalist, but I think it's important to know about tradition so that you can evolve the music you are deciding to make.

I recruited my dad to be my bass player and fired him on several occasions. He stayed on as a bus driver.

I grew up in a very modest house. We were poor-we lived on the poverty level. We all got jobs as young kids.

In the first decade of my life, I came to know and love God, as I was raised in a Christian home and community.